Malachy Coney
Malachy Coney is a comics writer and artist from Belfast. His first notable work was a two-episode installment of Third World War, "A Symphony of Splintered Wood", co-written with Pat Mills and painted by Sean Phillips, in issues 22 and 23 of Fleetway's anthology Crisis in 1989. Mills had taken on various co-writers for episodes dealing with specific geopolitical situations, and Coney's episodes concerned Northern Ireland's "Troubles". In 1993-94 he wrote the three issue series Holy Cross, each issue a self-contained story set in the same district of north Belfast, published by Fantagraphics. The first issue was drawn by Davy Francis, the second by English artist Chris Hogg, and the third by P. J. Holden. Coney and Holden also collaborated on the Holy Cross graphic novel The Moon Looked Down and Laughed, published by Fantagraphics in 1997. Coney also wrote a series of gay-themed parody superhero comics in the late 1990s. Major Power and Spunky, drawn by Sean Doran, began life as a local small press comic, before being picked up by Fantagraphics' Eros imprint, which also published Coney and Holden's The DandyLion. A third, The Simply Incredible Hunk, was drawn and self-published by Holden. A more serious take on sexuality issues was The Good Father, artist unidentified. He also contributed to the Belfast anthology DNA Swamp. Beginning in 1996 he had a run on Marc Silvestri's The Darkness from Top Cow/Image, initially co-written with Garth Ennis. The "Spear of Destiny" story arc introduced a new character, the Magdalena, who has since appeared in her own comic. He also plotted the "Hell on Earth" storyline for Harris Comics' Vampirella. From 2003 he wrote and drew a comic strip called "Ouija Board, Ouija Board", for the Northern Irish political and cultural magazine Fortnight, and self-published his own Good Craic Comics in 2005-2006. He also contributed to the Belfast anthology Small Axe. He manages Belfast's Forbidden Planet comic shop. Bibliography *"Third World War: A Symphony of Splintered Wood", Crisis #22-23, co-written by Pat Mills, art by Sean Phillips, 1989 *"Wormwood", Toxic! #24, art by John McCrea, 1991 *''Holy Cross, 3 issue series, art by Davy Francis, Chris Hogg and P. J. Holden, Fantagraphics Books, 1993-1995 *The Good Father, self-published, 1993 *Major Power and Spunky, art by Sean Doran, Fantagraphics/Eros, 1994 *The Moon Looked Down and Laughed, graphic novel, art by P. J. Holden, Fantagraphics Books, 1997 *The Dandy Lion, art by P. J. Holden, Fantagraphics/Eros, 1997 *The Simply Incredible Hunk, art by P. J. Holden, self-published by Holden, 1997 *"Keltor", ''DNA Swamp #1-3, art by Christian Kotey, 1997 *"Life Dreams of a Homo Pacedermus", DNA Swamp #1, art by Sean Doran, 1997 *''The Darkness'' #11-22 (#11-14 co-written by Garth Ennis), art by Joe Benitez and others, Top Cow/Image, 1998-1999 *''Spririt of the Tao'' #1-5, co-written with D-Tron, Billy Tan, art by Billy Tan, Top Cow/Image, 1998 *''Tales of the Darkness'' #1-4, 1/2 (#1-2 co-written by Brian Haberlin), drawn by various artists, Top Cow/Image, 1998-1999 *"Ouija Board, Ouija Board", Fortnight, 2003- *''Good Craic Comics'' #1-2, self-pubished, 2005-2006 References *Cue and Ehh? interview on Shuffle *Small Axe Comics *Fortnight Magazine *[http://www.zumcomics.info/Archive/ArchiveZUM!6.html Contents of Zum! #6] *Malachy Coney on Wikipedia *Malachy Coney on ComicVine *Malachy Coney on ComicbookDB Category:Comics writers Category:Comics writer-artists Category:Belfast creators Category:Creators in British comics Category:Creators in American comics Category:Fortnight Category:Crisis Category:Self-publishers Category:Fantagraphics Books Category:Image Comics